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02 August 2007 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7284 / Categories: Features , Constitutional law
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A rap on the knuckles

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The government’s mismanagement of the new Ministry of Justice shows it has learnt little from earlier mistakes, says Professor Michael Zander QC

The government got a proper kicking last week from both the House of Lords Constitution Committee and the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee on the establishment of the new Ministry of Justice (MoJ). No doubt to maximise their impact, both reports were published on the same day (26 July 2007).

The House of Commons committee report, The Creation of the Ministry of Justice, 6th report, HC 466 (HC), was limited to just that one topic. The report of the House of Lords committee, Relations Between the Executive, the Judiciary and Parliament, 6th report, HL 151 (HL), goes much wider. The Lords inquiry began in autumn last year. Its purpose was to identify points of friction in the relationship between government, the judges and Parliament since the Constitutional Reform Act 2003 (CRA 2003) and the Concordat agreed by the lord chancellor and the lord chief justice.

The establishment of the

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